


partners

by voxmore



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: M/M, Raiden and Rose are separated, post mgr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:07:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28305801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voxmore/pseuds/voxmore
Summary: Raiden meets up with an old friend, and maybe forges a new future.
Relationships: Raiden/Kevin Washington
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	partners

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hifreqblade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hifreqblade/gifts).



> A Secret Santa fic! I hope you enjoy this rarepair content, Ari!

Going it alone was nothing new to Raiden, but...transitioning back to life as a lone wolf after he left Maverick was harder than Raiden had anticipated. He’d gotten embarrassingly used to the convenience of having an entire team of talented, dependable people with a variety of skillsets backing him up. Sometimes, he might even let himself admit that being on his own after getting used to having people he cared about and trusted along for the ride had him feeling...lonely.

But it was a loneliness of his own making. Maverick wasn’t happy about seeing him go--not only because he was one of their most valuable assets, but because the people Raiden had worked with were genuinely worried about him and cared about _him_ in return--and members of his old team still attempted to make contact with him on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes he answered their calls. Others, he didn’t. 

Rose he only spoke to when it concerned their son, these days. She wasn’t exactly happy with his decision to strike out on his own, exacting his own brand of justice on those who threaten the weak. One argument kept leading to another, worse one, and now she’d left him _again_ . A part of him told himself that it hadn’t lasted the last time she did this. Another part of himself was internally panicking about it any time he was left _too_ alone with his own thoughts.

So it was a good thing that tonight, unlike most nights, Raiden wouldn’t be alone. During a conversation with Kevin, he’d let slip that they were in roughly the same area right now, and Kevin had suggested meeting up if he had any time. A part of Raiden felt like he shouldn’t have agreed, that rejecting the offer would have been the responsible reply, but for some reason...he’d found himself unable to say no. 

There was nothing particularly remarkable about the bar they were meeting up in. There were probably a million out there that looked just like it. As Raiden entered, he immediately heard a familiar voice 

“Hey there, _Mr. Lightning Bolt."_

“Kevin,” Raiden replied, a little too breathlessly for a reason Raiden couldn’t identify, “Uh, long time no see.”

“No shit, man! Glad I finally caught you,” Kevin guided Raiden over to a seat at the bar and plopped down next to him, “I promised you I’d buy a drink during that whole Desperado incident, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, I know you’d probably still rather be buying one for a hot girl, though, Unless you took my advice and finally found yourself an actual girlfriend.”

“Hey...I like buying a drink for a good-looking guy every now and then too, you know.” Kevin winked at him. 

Well _that_ gave Raiden a pause. There was no way he meant it like _that,_ right?

“Oh. Well, that’s fine too. Nothing wrong with that at all. Girlfriend, boyfriend, doesn’t matter. The um, important thing is that you deserve a real partner, Kev.” 

“Yeah, well, can’t get one of those without starting somewhere,” Kevin replied with an eyeroll, ”Anyway, what do you want? I think I promised a shot of you tequila back in Mexico...but this isn’t Mexico. Wouldn’t be the same.” 

“Just a beer’s fine.”

As Kevin got the bartender’s attention, Raiden started to space out, getting lost in his own thoughts. Would he have _minded_ the idea of Kevin flirting with him? A part of him felt bad for even thinking about this. He and Rose were separated, yet it still felt like betraying her. 

Raiden was pulled out of his thoughts when a glass was shoved in front of him. He mumbled a thank you and took a swig. 

“You know, Raiden,” Kevin began, watching him intently, “We’ve talked about how I feel about the kind of shit you get into on your own plenty of times, now. I really, really _would_ prefer you do it through legal channels. But at this point I know I’m not gonna change your mind, and I still worry about you out there on your own all the time. We all do. So I’ve been thinking...maybe it _isn’t_ the end of the world if I give you a hand the way I did against Desperado now and then.”

“ _Really_? Heh. Careful, get too used to doing that and you’re gonna end up becoming like, the Otacon to my Solid Snake or something.” Wait. “Uh, without the whole ‘having a kid together’ part.”

“You did say you wanted to see me settle down and have a family, and you _do_ already conveniently have a son,” Kevin replied with a shrug, “But seriously, I think it would probably be good for you to have something like that right now. I uh, still remember when Rosemary told me what you were like...the first time she left you. No offense, but it sounded like you were a real mess before Solid Snake swooped in and helped you out. So let me support you this time around, man.”

“I…” Wow, that was...a lot to process. His first instinct was to get mad, honestly, and insist he didn’t _need_ that. He wasn’t some incompetent baby, he didn’t want to be treated like he was fragile or weak. Yet he was also feeling a little overwhelmed by the fact that Kevin cared about him enough to go _that_ far for him. “You’re a good guy, Kevin.”

“I try my best, anyway. I don’t need an answer right away, but I wanted you to know the option is on the table. And, either way, I hope you’ll start leaning on your friends a bit more instead of pushing us away. We can all see you trying to distance yourself, Raiden.” 

Raiden made a grumbling noise in response to that. 

“Also, one of these days you’re gonna make your cousin cry, and then I’d have to give you a real intense verbal asskicking.” 

“Using Sunny against me? Low blow, Kev.”

“Hey, whatever works. Especially when I’m around a guy who plays dirty himself.”

Raiden let out an exasperated sigh. “Okay. I could use the help, yeah. If you... _really_ don’t mind. Thanks.”

“You do good work, Raiden, even if I don’t always agree with your methods. Which I _will_ still be nagging you about from time to time, so get used to that.”

“Yeah, well, then I’m still going to tune out your nagging, _partner_.”

Kevin responded with a laugh. It was nice knowing he’d get hear _that_ more often. He could sort out the rest later.


End file.
